Friday, August 27, 2010

Now that we are approaching the peak of hurricane season, the tropics are really starting to heat up.

Close to home, the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean Sea are quiet for the time being. However, it is a much different story further out in the Atlantic Ocean.

We have not one, but two tropical cyclones ongoing in the Atlantic, with a third area of low pressure likely to form this weekend.

Hurricane Danielle is our first major hurricane of the 2010 season, and is expected to brush Bermuda before turning northward and eventually weakening as it encounters the cooler waters of the northern Atlantic.

Behind Danielle is Tropical Storm Earl. He is expected to maintain a westward movement and could be a potential threat to the Bahamas and perhaps the east coast of the United States.

Notice that even behind Earl we have a tropical wave coming off the coast of Africa. This area of disturbed weather will more than likely become Fiona over the weekend.

I like to call the current setup you see in our satellite image "The Hurricane Train." This setup is quite common in late August through mid-September as the easterly waves coming off the coast of Africa get very active.

For now, it looks as if the Gulf of Mexico is under no threat in the foreseeable future. Hopefully we can say that another month from now.